The corruption suspect formerly known as the Governor of Illinois was

told by a judge Monday to forget about traveling to Costa Rica to tape the

NBC reality TV show, I'm Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here! Clearly

U.S. District Judge James Zagel worried that Rod Blagojevich, once on foreign soil, may

have been tempted to not return to his own native dirt to face federal

influence-peddling charges.

“I don't think this defendant in all honesty,” the Chicago Sun-Times quotes Zagel saying, “fully understands the position he finds himself in.”

Au

contraire, judge! The Blago knows his situation all too well, which is

why he was so eager to work on the show for a reported $80Gs an episode.

Blago later joked that Zagel had saved him from having to eat bugs

— a reference to the kind of indignities to which

contestants/participants/D-List celebrities are sometimes heir to on the jungle-based program. That hasn't kept the irrepressible ex-guv from heading to L.A.

to seek participation in the show in some other way. In a Today show interview

this morning, Blago says he explore the possibility of non-expatriate role in

I'm a Celebrity — because, you know, he's got a mortgage to pay

and has to support his daughters.

Hey, man — you were living free in a

mansion making decent coin before you got caught (allegedly) putting Obama's Senate seat up on Ebay!

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